Rodenticides have been used throughout the years to bring active rodent populations under control. In todays society the use of these toxins to eradicate rodents has become a serious problem as more and more of the rodent problems appear in areas that are accessible to children, pets and wildlife.
The placement of poisoned baits in these areas represents a real potential for possible harm to children and other non target species that might accidently injest the rodenticides.
In fact, tens of thousands of cases of accidental exposure to rodent baits by children and pets are reported to poison control centers annually.
Since most of the reported cases are due to home owner misuse of the product and, because the baits are sold in cardboard containers, a method was needed that would allow the adaption of these "off the shelf" packages to a level that would afford resonable protection to the baits.
During the past few years several new devices have been introduced to protect poisoned baits. These include the following which have been granted U.S. patents: 43/131 - U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,026 - 1/1979 Dodds, 43/131 - U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,079 -7/1979 - Hill, 43/131 - U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,471 - Jenkins, 43/131 - U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,981 - 9/1981 - Sherman, 43/131 - U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,653 - 6/1977 - Jordan, 43/131 - U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,982 -9/1982 -Sherman, 43/131 - U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,904 - 8/1983 - Baker, 43/131 -U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,198 - 9/1985 Sherman, 43/131 - U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,201 - Sherman and Foreign Pat. No. 43/131 - 2111022 - 9/1972 Federal Republic of Germany.
Although these devices advanced the state of the art in bait containment, they were all based upon a rodent entering the station at the same level as the bait and depended on baffles or mazes to protect unauthorized access to the rodenticide.
Additional protection was provided by extending the access ports from the bait containment areas through the use of elongated tunnels or baffled tunnel like structures.
And, no facitilty was provided for allowing the introduction of a box of rodenticide into the baiter and confining that box in a manner that afforded protection to the bait in the box after it had been opened.
The present art provides the user with a protective device that will allow the introduction of a preboxed rodenticide and, when the box is opened will afford the user with protective qualities not available until now.
Further, the contruction of the device in two lateral levels allows for the total segregation of the poisoned bait from direct access through the portals and, the rodent bait can only be reached by a small creature such as a mouse moving into the structure and feeding over the set back at the opposing end of the upper level of the device.
Additionally, the instant invention provides for a quick and secure method of loading the box of bait into the baiter through the use of a trap door located at the rear of the structure. This insures that when the baiter is mounted to a surface, the baiter can only be refilled by deliberately removing it from the surface.
Further, the baiters lower level contains a sloped floor that cooperates with the box, forcing the bait forward and insuring that the supply of bait will always be within easy reach of the target rodent.
This invention teaches the art of containing bait in a manner that isolates it from tampering by the use of multi tiered construction. The scope of the teachings are not limited by the drawings alone and, other novel and unique features are demonstrated by the disclosure of the drawings and the subsequent descriptions.